Out of Body, Out of Mind
by Crazyeight
Summary: A glitch occurs and somehow Takato finds himself not only in another dimension but in the body of an Agumon! As an organization called DATS tries to capture him Takato must find a way to get back home while evading his pursuers. Tamers/Data Squad crossove
1. Something Very, Very Wrong

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Out of Body, Out of Mind

Chapter: 1/ Something Very, _Very_ Wrong…

Slowly…ever so slowly Takato Matsuki opened his eyes, and blinked them as he found himself staring upwards at the harsh glare of a ceiling light. The ceiling itself was of an unusual arrangement, at least by Takato's standards, being rather large and far away from him. Quite colorful too, replete with warm colors of tan, blue, yellows, reds, and orange, and it had something of a 'technological' edge to it with the way the colors blended together like circuit boards or the exterior of fictional space ships that he had read about in various books and mangas throughout his life, but it wasn't in any way that was intrusive to him, but instead left him feeling quite well at ease despite not knowing where he was presently residing.

Rising up Takato took a look around him, noting the small, bedlike structure that he was laying on and raising an eyebrow at it before taking in his surroundings. He wanted to say that he was in a 'prison' of some sort, but it most definitely didn't have the appearance of a prison, especially since he wasn't being restrained in any fashion that he would normally connect with imprisonment. The room was much like the ceiling that he had been staring at scant seconds ago with the same compliment of colors and design as before, only there was a bit more to look at, complete with scanning equipment, monitors, and various technological 'doo-dads' whose function he could only guess at but believed that his friend, Henry Wong, could easily deduce just from one glance due to the fact that he was the most technologically savvy out of all of the friends that the two of them had. And they had quite a few, and each and every one of them was like what he and the aforementioned Henry Wong were; Digimon Tamers. Children partnered with a digital life form to protect the balance between the human and digital worlds. It was a title that they all took pride in.

_This is weird,_ thought Takato, cocking an eyebrow in confusion. _I mean, weirder then what I'm used to anyway. How did I even get here to begin with, and just where is 'here' exactly? The last thing I remember I was at Rika's birthday party and Renamon had stopped me from going up to her after she had left. I close my eyes one minute and the next…here I am._

Takato frowned as he continued to gaze at his surroundings. It was starting to become plain to him that he was in a lab of some kind, but again the 'who', 'what', 'where', 'when', 'why', and 'how' questions eluded him completely. The setup had been too sudden and without any sense of transition between where he had been during Rika's party and his present location. The closest place that he could come up with was Hypnos, a paramilitary organization set up by the government to monitor and control the flood of traffic that flowed between the real and digital worlds, but in all of the time that he had ever been there (which, granted, wasn't often), he didn't remember it being _this _colorful.

_Hypnos always had this business like appearance, at least in some places. And where it wasn't it was like something out of a government conspiracy story, with everything dark and shadowy…which is weird because Yamaki hangs out in those places the most, and he even wears sunglasses in them. Terriermon likes to say that it's just because he's got an image to maintain. I can't help but wonder if he's right about that._

Smiling at the memory of the long eared goofball of a digimon that was Henry's partner Takato's mind began wondering about where the others were, provided that they were in the same situation as he was right now, and just what exactly it was that they had gotten themselves into this time. He suspected aliens, judging from the rather bizarre layout of the room though the monitors and scanning equipment looked fairly standard to what he saw in hospitals back on earth. The digital world was probably the most likely choice in that case. The thought filled him with a sense of excitement and unease. Being a longtime fan of the TV show _Digimon_ (which was populated by the same creature's that he and his friends were partnered with, and even fought against interestingly enough) Takato loved the idea of adventure, however his passion had been tempered back by raw experience that had been filled with just as much loss and sorrow as there had been the pleasure of thrill seeking, and he had learned that having adventures like the characters he had so often admired on TV came with a heavy price that had exacted its toll on both himself and his friends, particularly one, many, _many_ times. With past experience and memories set firmly in his mind, Takato's already natural instinct to worry came to bear and he began to clamber to his feet.

_I sure hope that Guilmon and the others are okay,_ he thought to himself. _So far it looks like I haven't been treated badly in any way but there's no telling if the same holds true for everyone until I get out of here. I don't think that I should have any problem. The only door that I see around here looks unguarded…unless there's a force field protecting it. _

Shaking his head slightly Takato looked down, his eyes going towards his waist, instinctively searching out the one item that had saved him and his partner on numerous occasions.

_Awww nuts…looks like whoever kidnapped me also took my digivice while I was out. That's just grea…!_

Takato paused and tilted his head to one side in confusion.

_Um…this is new,_ the boy thought intelligently as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing. In place of where his _human_ body was, no longer covered by the familiar blue hoody and tan pants that were his normal attire was one that was most decidedly in the nude, covered with orange scales. His hands, or rather _claws_, were larger then what he was accustomed to, and were closer to his body with three opposable appendages that were more claws then fingers.

A set of red colored training bracers also covered his hands and wrists.

Takato rotated his hands, eyes widening in shock while his mind, failing to understand what it was that he was seeing. For the first time (owing in some sense to the lack of attention that his teacher claimed that he normally paid to his surroundings) he noticed that there was something _off_ with his vision, as though his eyes weren't situated quite right, and his nose appeared to be more centered rather then set off in his peripheral vision as he was used to, which in his mind recalled a lesson from his teacher, Ms. Asagi about _stereo vision_. Though the majority of the details were lost on him in his present state, he did understand that this meant his eyes weren't facing forwards like they should. As they did when he was human.

Takato felt his legs started to wobble a bit as the shock continued to settle into him. Feeling as though he were suffocating in quicksand Takato realized that he had to do something to get a grip on himself. Calling upon his Tamer experience he took a deep, shuddering breath, pushing back against the shock and surprise, until he felt it recede a bit, just enough to allow some measure of rational thought back into his thinking.

_Okay…that's a little better now. Gotta stay calm. Panicking won't solve anything, and this isn't the first time that I've turned into something else anyway…although I have to admit this is certainly…different and not in the least bit expected…not that I was expecting to turn into a digimon when Guilmon and I first biomerged into Gallantmon but still…_

Shaking his head Takato decided to set aside such thoughts and ascertain where his friends were before doing anything else. He didn't know if they were like he was but if they were in trouble they were going to need help. Hopping down now from the bed that he had woken up on, not even noticing the wires that were coming off of him as he did so, Takato, now in his new and strange form walked cautiously towards the entrance to his room. Instinctively, though whether or not they were his or whoever had previously owned this body, Takato sniffed the air, grimacing a little at the scents that pervaded his nose.

_Whew. Man, I don't even want to know what that smell is…_

As Takato made his way towards the door he took notice of his reflection being cast upon the surface of the wall next to him. Curious about the full extent of his appearance Takato craned his head to look. What he saw next absolutely left him speechless, and he blinked his eyes, an alien green to the warm red that he had been born with.

He was rather tall for what he was seeing that much he knew. Perhaps slightly larger then himself if not Guilmon unless he was standing upright (though to be fair it looked as though most of his 'size' was restricted to his head), with a rather flat chest and two simple holes where his nostrils were supposed to be. And of course there was the short, stumpy tail at the back that would have been invisible if not for the fact that his body was turned at an angle. The appearance of what he was looking at was different, but the basic outline, complete with the bodies coloring was familiar. It was the form of a digimon that he had been a fan favorite of for just over two years; the digimon that he had designed Guilmon to be better then.

If Takato didn't know any better that was just what he was now.

_Agumon…_

"I'm telling you," spoke up a voice from outside the doorway, "this one's unlike any of the others of this particular species that we've encountered in the past."

"I can get that considering some of the unusual data that we got from it when it first showed up as a digi-egg, but that doesn't change what it is. Are you sure that we should be checking him out without backup? Shouldn't someone like Yoshi be here with us to make sure that nothing goes wrong?"

"Yoshi's out in the field, and anyway this dino was out like a light the last time I saw him. That digivolution of his took a lot out of…"

Two men wearing the white coats that were the trademark of many a scientist and doctor entered the room and froze upon seeing that the bed ahead of them was empty. Not even bothering to check the room around them the two men rushed towards the bed as if by doing so they could change the reality of the lack of Takato's presence on it. Seeing this, Takato took the opportunity to vacate the premises as quickly and in as ninja like a fashion as possible.

His accidently bumping one of the monitors by his bed would have made his friend Renamon shake her head in disgust before giving him a look that asked if he even knew the meaning of the word 'stealth'.

"Um…hi…" Takato chuckled sheepishly, waving one clawed hand at the two startled scientists that had turned around to see what the noise was. "Ah…lovely weather we're having today, huh?"

The two scientists stared blankly at him before looking at each other. It didn't take someone with the intelligence of a Monster Maker to know what was going through their minds.

Awww…NUTS!! Takato exclaimed in his now reptilian mind, and with that he immediately rushed out of the room and into the hallway.

He didn't get very far before the sounds of an alarm started blaring throughout the building.

* * *

A/N: A rather bizarre idea that hit me last night when I was watching an episode of Digimon Data Squad. I remembered a conversation I once had with a friend of mine, **Keyo-Red Angel of Hope,**in which he had mentioned that the voice actor who had done Takato's English dub voice was also responsible for doing Agumon in Data Squad. This, combined with something that could be called a sugar high made me wonder what would happen if, for some reason Takato and Agumon's personalities changed places in their respective seasons and what they would have to go through in order to get back home. Probably something that should have just stayed in my head but I couldn't help it. Beware. Weirdness abounds in the chapters that follow. :P

-Crazyeight

* * *

2


	2. The Monster among Me!

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Out of Body, Out of Mind

Chapter 2: The Monster among Me!

**"Pepper Breath!"**

A massive fire ball ripped through a metal grate, obliterating its bars. Shortly thereafter a large, stubby, orange colored body with a large head leapt through the opening and splashed into the water filled sewer, rodents squeaking and snarling as they were sent scattering by the sudden and unexpected disturbance in their abode. Casting his green eyes about him Takato, now in his Agumon body winced at the number of smells that assaulted his senses, sending his nasal passages screaming in agony over the horrid, decayed stench that filled them. Doing his best to cover his nose with his claws to keep out the smells of the sewers Takato, breathing as carefully and as limitedly as possible took a step forwards, sloshing around in the cold water. As he moved his body began shivering from the temperature decrease that crawled up his legs.

_Great. This is not good. I couldn't find Henry, Rika, or any of the others…not that that was made easy by the fact that I didn't know what they smell like, or that I had an army of secret agent types chasing after me…but now I've also got to worry about catching hypothermia or some disease while I'm down here. Ooohg…man, I __**really**__ don't want to know what that smell is._

_I guess this would be a bad time to wonder if, seeing as how I'm stuck in a reptile's body, I happen to be cold blooded. If so, that's not a good thing to have in a place like this. If I remember Ms. Asagi's class right my metabolism can slow down and I might fall asleep down here before I get the chance to get out of here and figure all of this out! And I can't afford that! Not if I want to rescue the others! _

_Uh…assuming that is, that the others are in the same situation that I am as well. But then again, given the luck that we usually have I'm probably right._

_On the other hand, given __**my**__ luck…_

Takato let the thought drift off and began to push his legs, much smaller then he was used to but significantly stronger than before, forwards through the slime encrusted muck. Turning his head as he scanned the area for an exit Takato quickly found that his eyesight was much better then what he had as a human. A nice surprise to be sure, though given some of the things that he saw in this subterranean garbage dump Takato felt that he would probably have been better off blind as a bat (using the metaphorical definition of the saying). At least then he would only have to worry about the smells making him gag, though whether he was human or digimon, enhanced smell of the latter notwithstanding, he would rather not have to smell at all.

_Unless that is I'm smelling good things…like my mom's food._

Deciding that it was best to simply bear it and grin, Takato trudged onwards, working a little bit more speed into his pace as he did so.

_I wonder how this happened anyhow,_ thought Takato. _I mean, I wasn't exactly doing anything digimon related at Rika's party outside of my D-Arc and having all of our digimon friends in the same place as us. Okay, there was the Parasimon invasion from earlier, not to mention a crazy Locomon and a digital zone but all of the Parasimon were destroyed when Guilmon and I transformed into our Crimson Mode and Locomon returned to the digital world, closing up the digital zone behind him when he left. Well, maybe there was still something residual left from all of that._

Takato scowled, his orange, scaly eyebrows furrowing over his green eyes and he groaned in frustration as his curiosity remained unanswered.

_At this point I don't think I can rule out being abducted by aliens._

Shaking his head, Takato turned his attention on the here and now as his experience as a Tamer, not to mention Rika's nagging voice from the many times she had gotten on his case for not acting as a Tamer should in a serious situation, reminded him of his priorities. Get away from immediate danger, find a safe place to hold up and recover, and then figure out what was going on.

_Funny how sensible Rika sounds, even when she's putting me down,_ chuckled Takato as he continued to jog along. Takato then blinked his emerald eyes as he realized that the tunnels around him were starting to become brighter. A signal to him that he was nearing an exit.

_Terriermon would probably say something like 'don't go into the light' but in this case I think I'll chance it. Whatever's waiting for me, if it's an exit, I'm pretty sure that it's better than where I had been before._

Takato broke into a run then, forcing air into his lungs at a rapid pace to keep up with his body's demands against the sewer water that continued to slow him down like a lover that did not want to part with him. Straining every muscle in his unfamiliar body, so very like the digimon of old that he had admired for so long, Takato strove for the light. In response, the light grew brighter, reaching out and pushing aside the darkness with wide, open arms of light, welcoming Takato with its embrace.

* * *

Red lights flashed throughout the room as the two women in blue and white uniforms, one with long dark hair and the other with short, curly blonde making them appear as polar opposites of each other, typed furiously on their control panels. Behind them their actions were supplemented by two, strange, armored figures with a short spear and a small shield strapped to their backs. These two figures likewise completed the appearance of polar opposites for the two women, though their physical similarities and their dedication to their work in the same manner as the women, hinted at a long companionship that went beyond whatever differences they might have with each other.

"Commander," spoke up one of the women over the claxon sound of the room's alert status. "The area has been completely sealed off. All sectors have been alerted. The sector security has sealed off the sky area."

A tall, powerfully built man wearing a long, blue and white colored trench coat and dark, pointed shades took in the report without a word. On his shoulder however, a long, thin, ferret appearing creature spoke up.

"The target is a renegade. We must catch him before he gets out. Don't you agree Samson?"

The man turned his head slightly to analyze the images portrayed on the main view screens.

"Hmmm…" he began. "Where is he now?"

"Trying to escape through area B-7," replied one of the women at the controls.

"Send Yoshino," ordered the trench coat wearing man named Samson. "Only a high level DATS agent can capture a _digimon."_

* * *

_Ahhh…_ Takato breathed the fresh air as he splashed water over his reptilian face, grateful to be out of the sewers and to have found this nearby dock. Following his 'break out' from that strange military complex Takato had gone to great lengths to find a place where he could wash all the garbage and stink off of him. The smell, he knew from the experience of having to go through back alleys and similar such places just to get his partner Guilmon when he bio-emerged into the real world was bad enough for a human, but in his present form it was positively _burning_ his nostrils, not to mention making him want to vomit. Not exactly the best thing to have happen, and the smell only served to draw attention to himself.

_Well, more so then I already do,_ thought Takato to himself as a pair of what looked to be high school students, from their uniforms, passed him by, giving him odd looks as they did so. Fortunately neither of them screamed or made a scene, but they did increase their pace. He was tempted to call out to them in the hopes that one, if not both would take pity on him and offer him some help, and if failing that at least offer some measure of human acknowledgement that didn't come in the form of high pitched screams. However, it was the possibility of them acting in such a fearful manner that prevented the former Goggle-wearing Tamer from calling to them, and in the end they moved on without incident. Giving a sigh Takato looked back into the water and looked himself over.

He realized that he was different from the standard Agumon, something that he hadn't noticed when he was in that strange building (not really having the time to take in his appearance all that well before being interrupted). He was larger, _much_ larger for starters, not to mention that the next obvious difference was the red training bracers strapped to his three fingered claws. His nostrils were also different from the Agumon that he had grown up watching on the digimon TV show, being simply holes in the front of his muzzle as opposed to the more pronounced ones that the original had.

All in all, he was decidedly a _very_ different mon.

_This just gets weirder and weirder,_ thought Takato as he stuck his tongue out at his own reflection and was rewarded when it did the same back to him. Takato sighed. He didn't know what else he had been expecting by doing that. It wasn't as though his image was going to disappear, or that it was showing him something that wasn't true. All he had to do was look down at himself and see his body for what it was.

_Feel kind of weird without any clothes,_ thought Takato. _But not as weird as I did when I breathed flame out of my mouth. I'm kinda surprised that didn't even hurt. It __**is**__ fire. Then again, Guilmon breathes it all the time and the original Agumon didn't seem to have any trouble either…_

_Oh yeah. That's right. He was a TV show…_

Takato frowned at his body.

_We've got to do something about this. I know that digimon don't have any problems walking around without any clothes on but I'm still a human being at heart. Now where can I get some clothes?_

A glance around revealed nothing but an old man standing on a nearby bridge with a fishing line cast into the ocean. The man was staring at him with curiosity sparkling distinctly in his gray colored eyes. Takato held the old man's gaze for a few moments before he felt something…_click._ He didn't quite know what it was that he felt, or how he could describe it, but the closest that he could get was a kind of impression that something had struck him without necessarily making physical contact with him. Rather, it was more like something was trying to get his attention.

And whatever it was, Takato felt his heart rate go up as the familiar feel of adrenaline flooded his body, tuning all of his senses to the max. It didn't take Takato long to figure out that this was the 'digimon sense' that Guilmon and the other Tamer partners got whenever a digimon had bio-emerged or detected danger in the area. Something was out there, and from what he felt in his heart, someone also needed his help.

* * *

The gray haired man with the fishing pole watched the strange, orange colored dinosaur run off. Yet he wasn't frightened to see the creature. Surprised would have been a better word for it though not because the creature was at all not natural to the world that he had grown up in. No. It was something else. Something about the creature, or more accurately its presence here in the real world that had been unexpected.

_So…another one has come through has he?_ Thought the old man before a tug on his line caught his attention.

* * *

_Whatever's going on…I have to get there,_ thought Takato as he pounded his feet on the ground, vaulting over benches, racing through the sidewalks and frightening bystanders, unmindful of the 'low profile' that he knew the importance of having to maintain, _…FAST!_

_Pow! Thud!_

The sound of bodies hitting the ground, mingling with screams of pain and shrill sirens shrieking upon the air only drove Takato to push his body even harder, ignoring the dull aches and weariness that he felt from his escape. He felt that deep down, someone was in need of his help and he had to be there to offer it as soon as possible! Leaping up one more time Takato jumped over a guard rail and landed on a smooth, wooden floor. Breathing heavily Takato quickly too stock of the situation just as a human body wearing black clothing crashed to the ground with a groan.

"Wha…?" Stammered Takato before looking up. The sounds of knuckles cracking filled the air, and Takato's green eyes came to greet a pair of gold colored irises that burned with a fire and held a competitive streak that he had seen before in only two people, one of whom was a fire haired Tom boy, and another being a visor wearing kid with an ego and supreme confidence in his skills, both of whom would be ready to charge the gates of the most powerful enemies no matter what the odds. But this person, this teenager (as that was how he appeared to Takato unless his eyes were deceiving him), was neither of those people. He had long, brown hair that bordered on red and had a section of it tied back into a pony tail. He wore a red, unbuttoned t-shirt over a plain white t-shirt and blue jeans. Once more he cracked his knuckles and looked around him, a smug grin on his face as he surveyed his defeated opponents.

"Well they didn't put up much of a fight," said the teen and Takato's mouth gaped in surprise.

_Why is he fighting people anyway?_ Takato wondered, and as though he had spoken the words out loud, the teen looked over in his direction, the appearance of satisfaction from battle evaporating as he sighted on a new target. The boy's body tensed up and his hands, now held on either sides of his waist, balled up into fists.

"Huh. You're a weird looking guy. I don't know who you are, but you're standing in the middle of my turf."

Takato tilted his head to one side. "Uh…what?"

"This is my training ground," the boy continued. "One day I'm going to be a champion ultimate fighter! Fans all over will chant my name! They'll say _'Marcus Damon is the best!'"_

"Huh?" Takato blinked in surprise. _Oookaaay…what's going on here? This guy kind of reminds me of someone I know…_

"That's…nice…" Takato said cautiously. "Uh…sorry that I'm standing on your…_turf,_ but last I checked this place looked like a public area to me."

"It's only public until someone makes their claim to it, and I've made my claim," shouted Marcus Damon, proudly raising his fists into the air, one of them swiveling around to indicate the piles of battered and unconscious people that lay on the ground around them. "Which was something that these guys didn't quite understand when they showed up here looking for trouble! So I decided to teach 'em a lesson!"

"Yeah, well, it looks like your lessons going to stick, though I can't imagine them being too happy about it," replied Takato sarcastically, scratching the side of his head with one of his claws.

"Not that it's going to matter," said Marcus, slamming one fist home into the palm of his hand. "So, are you looking for trouble too, pal? Because I'll be more than happy to oblige."

Takato chuckled nervously. "C'mon. Looking for trouble? Me? I don't go looking for trouble, nah-ah. Although trouble always seems to find me now that I think about it…"

"Sounds like you have it tough. Which is too bad, because if you don't clear out right now, things are about to get even tougher for ya."

Takato glowered at the teenager, feeling a tad bit irritated at being threatened in such a fashion when he hadn't even done anything to deserve it.

"Hey, take it easy. I just came here because I thought someone was in trouble…"

"So you came here to help out these losers, huh? Well I guess that means I'm going to have to take you out!"

"HEY YOU!" Called out a female voice all of a sudden, and Takato turned his head in the direction of its speaker. Up at the top of a stair landing Takato saw a human female with short, dark brown hair, looking to be around the age of the street fighter in front of him, wearing what looked to be a purple uniform and white, high heeled boots. "STOP RIGHT THERE! YOU CAN'T FIGHT THAT CREATURE! HE'S TOO DANGEROUS!"

"CREATURE?!" Takato exclaimed in surprise. "I'M NOT A CREATURE! I'M…oh, wait." Takato felt a light bulb turn on his head as he remembered his current situation. "Yeah, I guess you could say that I'm a _creature._ That makes this a little difficult. I wonder if I can scare this guy off or something…"

"Huh?" Marcus looked incredulously at the young woman on the stairs. "Look toots. I'm the dangerous fighter here. And I don't need a babysitter to hold my hand." Marcus then turned towards Takato. "And yeah, you look weird enough to be a visitor from another planet! What did you think you were anyway? And don't think that just because you have a lot of fangs and big claws that you're going to scare me off or anything 'cause Marcus Damon _never _runs from a fight!"

"But I don't want to fight…"

"Then you'd best start running pal," said Marcus as he raised his fists and grinned viciously. " 'Cause ready or not, here I come!"

Letting loose a ferocious battle cry, the _Ultimate Street Fighter _known as Marcus Damon raced towards Takato, one fist drawn back as he prepared to deliver an earth shaking blow on the hapless, former goggle wearing dinosaur.

For the second time that day a familiar thought ran through Takato's mind.

_Aw…nuts…_

* * *

4


	3. a Change to the Script

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Out of Body, Out of Mind

Chapter: 3/ a Change in the Script

"Is he actually thinking about fighting a digimon?" Wondered Yoshi aloud as she watched the scene play out in front of her, completely baffled by the whole thing. Raptor-1, the codename that was given to the Agumon that had escaped from H.Q., had shown up here amidst a group of fifteen human bodies all sprawled out on the floor like something had attacked them, leading her to suspect that he had been the culprit behind them. However, what she was seeing, and _hearing_ (as surprising as it was for her to believe that the digimon could actually talk as it had never done so before to her knowledge), this did not appear to be the case. From the moment that she had arrived and saw the human teenager attack her target, Raptor-1 had been doing nothing but staying on the defensive, striving to stay out of the way of the boy's fists and even going so far as to reason with him even prior to the attack.

_Not exactly the kind of actions from an aggressive creature unless it's too worn out from battling the other humans. Which would be impossible under most circumstances. Digimon normally aren't capable of getting exhausted no matter how many humans they fight unless they have a partner digimon with them._

_"Yoshi,"_ came the sound of Lalamon, her digimon partner's voice through her digivice. _"We've got to stop them before that kid gets hurt!"_

"Right, I'm on it," replied the brown haired teen as she quickly leapt into action and began to speed down the stairs that separated her from the two raging combatants beneath her.

_Though frankly I'm more worried about the digimon getting hurt, _thought Yoshi as she watched Agumon duck beneath yet another wild swing, courtesy of one _Marcus Damon_.

"Hey! Watch it!" Exclaimed Takato angrily as he narrowly ducked beneath Marcus's haymaker and jumped to the side. In response Marcus merely grinned at the orange dino and advanced on him, fists still clenched tightly.

"No _you _watch it! That is unless you want to be looking at the sky after I take you down…"

"I'd rather not, thanks," grumbled Takato irritably. "I think I've had enough headaches to last me several lifetimes. Can't we just talk about this?"

"We are talking. With my fists! Actions do speak louder than words you know, and if you want to be vocal I suggest you put 'em up and fight back!"

_This sure brings back memories,_ thought Takato as he used his new, natural reflexes to jump backwards, away from yet another punch from the brown haired teen. No sooner than he had landed did Takato find his feet being thrown out from under him by a well timed, sweeping kick from his opponent, throwing him to the ground and knocking the breath from his body in one audible _'woof'._

Now Takato isn't a violent or aggressive boy by nature. Far from it in fact, Takato tended to be more sensitive than most children his age, and as such fighting wasn't one of his natural instincts (even though it is, rather ironically, more his partner's). Fighting _humans_ especially did not rate very high with him and fighting in general, whether it was digimon or human, was more of a last resort in the event that all attempts at communication broke down and there was no chance of resolving a situation peacefully. In either case, there comes a time in a person's life where action must be taken, whether it's a conscious decision or a knee-jerk reaction.

Actually, _knee-jerk_ reaction is a very apt way of putting it, as was Takato's reaction when, while still trying to catch his breath and try to understand just what it was that was going on with him, Masaru loomed over him, cracking his knuckles menacingly.

_"Oof!"_ Faster than Takato could react, faster than he could even _think_, Takato's clawed foot lashed out, plowing right into the soft, sensitive area that lay in between Masaru's legs. The street fighter's eyes widened in surprise and pain as a grunt escaped his lips, and for a moment Masaru was suspended in the air, his mind trying to comprehend what was going on as a sickening, lead heavy pain spread from his groin and throughout his now trembling legs. Gold eyes met green as Masaru and Takato stared at each other, both obviously shocked at what had just happened. Even Yoshi halted in surprise at what she had just witnessed, a small gasp escaping her lips.

_Wha…? What just happened here?_ Came Takato's intelligent question, echoing softly from the corners of his mind. It didn't take long for an answer to come as Masaru, pulling his hands in towards his crotch, keeled over to the side as his legs became unhinged beneath him. A howl was ripped free from the teenager's voice as he hit the ground, snapping Takato out of his reverie and he immediately rushed over to the boy.

"Aaah! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean…!"

POW!

Quickly snapping around with the most supreme effort of will, Masaru smashed his fist straight into Takato's right eye, eliciting a yelp of surprise from the goggle-less dino and he soon found himself back on the ground once more, a claw nursing an eye that was swiftly swelling shut.

_Owww… Okay, now __**that **__hurt! That guy's tougher then he looks! _

Takato blinked his remaining eyeball as a thought clicked on its luminescent light in his mind.

_Hey. How __**did**__ he manage to hurt me? I thought humans couldn't hurt digimon with conventional weapons, let alone their fists. Something's off here…_

"Cheap…shot," grunted Masaru as he struggled up to his feet. "Definitely not the kind of thing a _real_ man would do in a fight…"

If Takato were anyone else he would have made a comment on what exactly qualified as _manliness_ (especially since Masaru had attacked him first, and he wasn't exactly human anymore no matter what his heart was). However, Takato wasn't anyone else, and even though he was presently stuck in a digimon's body, he was still the same old Gogglehead that he always was.

"You know…I said I was sorry…" Takato grumbled as he continued to clutch his battered eye with one claw.

"'Sorry' isn't going to cut it," growled Masaru, the flame of anger already working on him. The teen was angry, and he fully intended to let it be known that making him angry was by far the most unintelligent thing to ever do. Taking a menacing step towards Takato, abandoning all pretence of fighting just to 'have a good time', Masaru raised one fist and clenched it. An orange aura flared briefly around the fist, catching Takato's attention before it vanished, leaving him to wonder if he had even seen it at all to begin with.

_What was that?_

"HOLD IT!" Shouted Yoshi as she came to a halt in front of the battling duo and raised a strange, pink colored, rectangular device into the air that Takato's mind immediately called a 'digivice' despite the fact that it was of a model that he had never seen before. A light glow appeared in the young woman's digivice as she continued to speak. "LALAMON, REALIZE!"

The glow emanating from the digivice suddenly increased in intensity before unleashing a swirling stream of pink colored energy that coalesced together into the air and took shape. The light swiftly died down, revealing an oval shaped creature with a pink, upper body topped by a green leaf like hat and ringed by a series of petal shaped objects. The creature, most definitely a digimon as well as a plant type also had a green, lower body that made up its primary torso with short, stubby legs and arms. Three spherical, black spots on the pink upper half appeared to Takato as its mouth and eyes.

"Lalamon," the digimon intoned in a sweet, sing song voice that drew a smile on his reptilian face.

"All right. Enough of this. The both of you back off from each other…right _now."_

The young woman all but grated that last word in a no-nonsense tone that Takato felt would be wisest to obey and instinctively he began shifting away from Marcus, trying to put some distance between them before getting up to his feet with a groan. Marcus glared at the young woman.

"Why should I toots?" Marcus shot back. "Just because you have one of those weird looking freaks backing you up? Forget it! I'm in the middle of a fight here…"

"Point of interest," spoke up Takato, raising his only free claw. "It wasn't a fight that I was interested in having to begin with…"

"Then you should have ran," Marcus exclaimed, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, ignoring the fact that he had been more than a little bit relentless in his pursuit of Takato. He was still quite angry however, not to mention hurting so this was quite understandable, except in the eyes of Takato, Lalamon, and Yoshi.

"Ugh. This is the worst," groaned Yoshi as she raised one hand and massaged her forehead irritably. Never before had she had to deal with a human with such a one track mind, let alone one that annoyed her so quickly.

"You said it," agreed Takato with a nod. "And I'm the one who was on the end of his fists! By the way, who are you?"

"Yoshino Fujieda," replied Yoshi, giving Takato a questioning look as she considered the digimon's rather unusual and inquisitive nature, which was a stark contrast to the attitudes of most digimon that she had encountered in the real world, excluding the ones that operated for her organization. "I work for an organization named DATS, and am part of the Digimon Data Squad."

Takato raised an orange eyebrow. "Data Squad? DATS? I've never heard of either of those before. Yamaki never mentioned you before, or that there were any more Tamers in the real world other then myself and my friends."

Yoshi and Lalamon both stared at Takato in confusion before exchanging glances with each other. Takato scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Oh. Right. I look like a digimon. Um…okay…how do I go about this? Introductions right? I know that what I'm about to say is going to sound crazy…in fact I'm kind of wondering if I _am_ crazy…or if this all just a bad dream…and I'm running off at the mouth. Anyway, what I'm about to say is going to sound weird…"

"Actually you're not really saying anything at all," said Marcus in a deadpan tone.

"Oh…right."

"Knock it off Marcus Damon," said Yoshi pointedly to the street fighter.

"Hey! How did you know my name?"

"We heard you shout it right before you attacked Raptor-1," pointed out Lalamon in a cute, squeaky, high pitched voice that again brought a smile to Takato's mouth. He just couldn't help himself. There was something about the way she spoke that reminded him of a certain girl that he knew back home whenever she put on her sock puppet and pretended it could talk.

_Cute,_ thought Takato before instantly grimacing. _I can't believe I just thought that…_

"Oh," frowned Marcus, before instantly turning on Yoshi and Lalamon. "Hey! You're not breaking up our fight that easily!"

"Actually," said Yoshi in a calm, almost bedside manner as she raised a small device in one hand and pointed it at the street fighter, "I wouldn't count on it being at all difficult."

"What're you talking about?" Was all Marcus could say right before a bright light cascaded over his eyes.

* * *

Marcus blinked and looked around him. Bodies were piled in every direction, most of them groaning and attempting to move, the signs of his victory over his enemies. Feeling excitement surge through him Marcus straightened his back proudly, the sounds of the approaching authorities not yet deterring him. He would deal with them later, or retreat if he had to, but for now the moment was his.

A sudden spasm shooting out from his groin nearly caused the street fighter to buckle, and wincing in pain he clutched his hands between his legs. Realizing that the rather painful discomfort was most definitely going to cramp his style Marcus immediately began to hobble away before any of the local authorities could catch him. Strange thing though, he noted. He could not remember a single one of the gang that he had fought getting in close enough, or even making that kind of move, to injure him in such a fashion.

_One of them must have gotten lucky,_ thought Marcus dismissively as he glanced over his shoulder at his fallen opponents. _Too bad for them it wasn't lucky enough._

* * *

"Okay," began Yoshi as she helped Takato climb into her car as discretely as possible without attracting attention, quietly surprised by the digimon's rather amiable personality and lack of resistance, considering the fact that he had broken out of headquarters not too long ago. "You want to start back from the beginning and explain to me what it is that you were talking about back there?"

"Yeah, sure," said Takato uncertainly as he settled down in the backseat. "By the way, how did you erase that guy's memory? It's not something that I remember Hypnos using when working in the field."

Yoshi had to resist the urge to raise yet another inquiring eyebrow at the digimon. This was just getting stranger and stranger, but for now she decided to play along so as to avoid another escape attempt. The sooner they got back to DATS, the sooner Raptor-1 could be sent back to the digital world without incident.

"Uh…well, it's something of a new addition. It helps us maintain a low profile better. Now, about what you were saying earlier…"

"Oh yeah," Takato nodded. "The weirdness part. You see…uh…that's just the thing. I'm not entirely sure how to explain it, but I'm actually a human trapped in a digimon's body. My name is Takato Matsuki and I'm from West Shinjuku. I'm a digimon Tamer partnered with a digimon named Guilmon, who's my best friend and I sometimes work for a man named Yamaki, who's in charge of a top secret government organization called Hypnos.. I also have other friends who are Tamers named Henry, Rika, Ryo, Kazu, Kenta, Jeri, and Suzie. The thing is I don't know where any of them are, or what happened to me. One minute I was walking down a hall in one of my friend's home and the next I wake up in some bizarre laboratory in the body of an Agumon, and then alarms are going off."

Takato blinked. "Huh. I guess I was able to explain that after all."

Yoshi looked at Takato skeptically for a couple minutes before sighing mentally.

_Just one more thing of weirdness to bring up when I make my report,_ Yoshi thought to herself. _The commander is probably going to want to hear about this before we send Raptor-1 to the digital world, even though it sounds like the most cockamamie story I've ever heard in my life. Then again, the idea of a human going one on one with a digimon like Raptor-1 seemed pretty impossible to, so what the heck?_

"I'm sure that we'll be able to get this all cleared up once we get you to headquarters," said Yoshi as she shut the car door.

"I sure hope so, 'cause I have to say this is just a little too strange for me." Takato's gaze followed Yoshi for a few seconds as she walked around to the driver side of the car and began to get in before a sharp gnawing at his stomach grabbed his attention.

"Ooogh…um…Yoshi? I hate to ask this but…uh…do you think that we could maybe get something to eat? I'm kinda hungry."

"Uh…sorry," said Yoshi in a slow, cautious tone. "Digimon require special food to be prepared for them in the real world, otherwise they go hungry. We have a supply at DATS, so I'm afraid that you'll just have to wait."

Takato frowned.

"That's funny. I don't remember having that kind of trouble when feeding Guilmon. In fact, he actually _gained_ weight and often ate his weight in food…which was mostly bread…"

Yoshi's mind quickened. The excuse that she had used was the most common one that she gave to humans that were discovered with a digimon in their possession, and was usually the easiest way to get them to give up the digimon if they hadn't been around for very long. To hear this digimon actually acknowledge that it was a lie (without meaning to) and to relate to having the experience of raising a digimon didn't sit well with her, especially as it only served to validate his claims of having been a human originally before escaping. Something was not right. Not at all.

"Well, with some digimon we've found that there are special cases," Yoshi said with a quirky, nervous smile before turning her attention to starting up the car. Takato looked at her curiously and was about to take her up on that assessment before he saw something strange out of the corner of his eye. It was something that was rather subtle, and he almost didn't see it right away. Turning his head to a nearby piece of shrubbery Takato found that it was strangely blurred in some fashion. Almost _pixilated_, but not quite. Blinking his eyes Takato was surprised to find that the shrubbery had returned to normal.

_Oookaaay… What's going on here?_

The car started and pulled away from the shrubbery with a sudden, jarring jolt and quickly sped away towards home base.

* * *

4


	4. Tamer's Requiem

A/N: The title of this chapter has nothing to do with the series by the same name. It's just more of a private joke for myself, as well as containing a _small_ hint about what's going on in this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Out of Body, Out of Mind

Chapter: 4/ Tamer's Requiem

_"What…the heck…__**happened**__ there?!"_

_"You're asking me? I'm still trying to figure it out. Man, it's a good thing we didn't send this out yet. That would have looked pretty bad. Can you imagine what the __**parents**__ would have thought if they saw that?"_

_"I don't care about them right now! Seeing as how we caught this before it got out they're not my biggest concern. What is, is how the hell Takato Matsuki wound up in that place when __**Agumon**__ should have been there! Do you have any idea as to what kind of implications this has?"_

_"Well it is already public knowledge…at least in some corners but on the forums it's practically universally recognized. I doubt the reaction would be all that huge. Besides, like you said, we have the problem contained…"_

_"Thank God for that, though we're going to have to delay the viewing by a week just to correct this. Shit. The bosses upstairs are not going to be happy about this. Have you talked to the voice about this one? See what his take on the deal was and why there was a slip up?"_

_"He went home after the taping was finished. Apparently he was complaining about a sore throat. At any rate, we shouldn't be so surprised about Takato. He was bound to wake up sooner or later just like all the others, though why he had to choose __**now**__...and in another universe is beyond me…"_

_"Bloody typical of him too. Dammit! I swear heads are going to roll over this one! Don't we delegate these matters to…whatstheirname…just to make sure that things like this __**don't**__ happen? Especially since their home base is where they tend to end up anyway?"_

_"You just said that this was typical of the Matsuki, sir. I don't think we should put anything past Takato. He means well, but sometimes he's like a walking disaster or a bad penny that keeps turning up at the wrong time. Clumsiness will do that to a person. Remember, this __**is**__ Takato after all…"_

_"Ugh. Don't remind me. You know, I don't remember having this kind of trouble when Tai first showed up."_

_"Wasn't he in a single continuity though?"_

_"Ugh. There's that headache…"_

* * *

Rika Nonaka made her way through Shinjuku Park, her violet eyes narrowed slightly in an introspective frown as she traced her way down the familiar paths. Birds chirped in the air, singing their songs but for the most part they went unnoticed by the young girl. As though sensing the girl's melancholy mood a familiar, golden furred kitsune wearing purple gloves slowly phased into view next to her, her stride matching Rika's in perfect synchronicity as though she had always been there even when she was unseen. That, as well as Rika's lack of surprise at the vixen's presence indicated long companionship, which was in fact true. For these two, Rika Nonaka and the digimon known as Renamon were both partners; digimon Tamer and digimon. They were connected in ways that could be taken as friendship but also went beyond it in all the ways that counted and more, having saved each other's lives and even shared each other's bodies, merging their minds and souls together, more than once. So it was that without having to even think about it or even asking, Renamon could easily guess what was going on in Rika's mind.

Though for the sake of those who are not as aware as she is, Renamon voiced her question to Rika anyway.

"So…at it again are we?"

Rika turned her, flashing violet eyes towards her, indicating a lack of amusement towards the vulpine digimon's question before her frown became even deeper.

"You know, I don't know why I even go through with stuff like this."

"I seem to recall you saying that you didn't have anything better to do," commented Renamon as she glanced up at one of the trees off to the side. "And I should point out that after the Parasimon invasion we were left with very little to do."

Rika sighed. "I don't argue with you on that Renamon, it's just…I don't know. The repetition gets to be kind of a drag after a while. At least we still get adventure and some action but…I don't know. Is this all we have right now?"

"I should point out the irony that it's what allows us to keep…"

"I _know_ that Renamon," said Rika a little bit harshly before giving her partner an apologetic look. "Sorry Renamon. I've just been on edge lately."

"Mid life crisis?" Asked Renamon with a bemused, but worried expression on her face. Rika shook her head, though she allowed a small smirk to appear on her face now.

"Can't be. I'm not old enough for that. I guess that I haven't completely adjusted to everything that's happened since the Parasimon invasion. Feels like things were just left hanging after that."

"It doesn't help that Takato hasn't quite been with us since your birthday either," commented Renamon, causing Rika to again frown slightly.

"Well, you know how he is. He's always late, and it's not like it's really affected him. He still manages to take care of things even despite that."

Despite Rika's assertions, Renamon couldn't help but notice that her Tamer had pulled her hands into fists.

_It doesn't exactly comfort her though. We see the others on a regular basis but Takato hasn't been able to do the same as much as he used to. Having someone left out of the loop like that, especially someone that's one of her closest friends doesn't really sit well with her. Then again, she hasn't been very happy about many things since her birthday. Considering what we've all learned since then I can't say that I blame her. Some of the things that I've been involved in since then I've found to be rather…unsettling as well._

The pair continued on in silence as they exited the park and began to make their way down the busy streets of Shinjuku's commercial district, Renamon not bothering to hide her presence as the people that flowed around them were by now so used to the presence of digimon in their vicinity that a creature like Renamon was hardly that much of a surprise. As they made their way through the crowd Renamon reflected briefly on how much things had changed for them, their home, and the digital world of late.

_Things have most certainly been significantly altered,_ thought Renamon quietly to herself. _And I'm not certain that it's for the best either. But it's all that we have left right now, and there are many who consider our fate to be far better than that of obscurity._

Renamon closed her eyes and breathed a silent sigh.

_Who ever would have thought that things would have come to this? We all had difficulty accepting this. I can only wonder how Takato will react._

The thought did not sit well with Renamon, but as she knew full well, it was inevitable, and it would only have to be dealt with once that time finally came around.

The familiar appearance of the bread shop that belonged to the family of a certain goggle-wearing Tamer finally came into view, and upon seeing their mutual friend, Jeri Katou coming to a halt in front of its doors Rika quickened her pace so that she could catch up with the brown haired, olive green dress wearing, puppet loving girl.

"Jeri!" Rika called out, and the brunette turned with a smile appearing on her face as her amber eyes lighted on her fiery haired friend.

"Rika! Renamon! Are you here to get Takato?"

Rika rolled her eyes as she came to a stop next to Jeri.

"Come on, you know that's what we're here for. It's the same reason why you're here too. The four of us have that stupid _play_ that we have to attend and we can't afford to be late on this one…_again."_

"Hopefully things will be easier this time," said Jeri, offering Rika a hopeful smile as the three friends entered the bakery.

"You really think so?" Snorted Rika, folding her arms across her chest in a doubtful manner. "Granted, it's not like we have a tough time of it, but Gogglehead asks way too many questions. At least he shuts up when the ball gets rolling and we don't have a problem then but having to go through this on an almost constant basis is really draining sometimes. I really wish that he'd just wake up and get with the act already so that we didn't have to explain things to him over and over or have to convince him to follow us and meet someone."

"Maybe we'll get lucky today."

Rika chuckled in a rueful fashion.

"Somehow, I don't think luck would have anything to do with it."

"Rika…"

"All right, all right. I'm sorry. Now can we just grab Takato and get him out of here already? I'd like to get this thing done and over with before lunch."

"She's in one of her moods again," commented Renamon, and while Rika gave her partner a teasing, yet baleful glare Takato's partner, Guilmon came bounding out from the shop section to greet them.

"Hiii!" Guilmon exclaimed happily with a wave, to which each of visitors responded with a warm smile and a slight bow towards the crimson dinosaur, his happy disposition quite infectious for the three friends. "Are you here to see Takato?"

"Yes Guilmon," said Renamon. "Is he awake?"

"He's still up in his room sleeping," said Guilmon, his golden eyes becoming downcast. "He hasn't gotten out all day so far. His parents have left him alone so far because we've all been busy but…" Guilmon drifted off, letting his words sink in for his friends, to which they all nodded in understanding.

"I see," said Rika as she looked up the staircase that led to the living section of the shop. "Well, guess that means that we'll have to wake him up ourselves. Okay Jeri. You play good cop and I'll play bad cop."

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea Rika. You usually end up hurting him whenever you play 'bad cop'…"

"Always gets results, doesn't it?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

"Then what's the problem?"

"You mean besides the fact that Takato ends up getting hurt and has a hard time functioning properly afterwards?" Asked Renamon as she folded her gloved arms over her chest. Rika groaned and rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Fine. But Jeri better make extra effort to get him up today, otherwise I'm going to get really inventive with Takato's goggles."

Jeri scowled at her friend but before she could say anything the sound of wood creaking caught their attention, and with all four of them turning, Renamon, Rika, Jeri, and Guilmon's eyes found themselves resting on a disheveled looking, goggle-less Takato, still dressed in plain white pajamas as he tried to look as inconspicuous as possible while regarding his friends with a look of suspicion, something that looked wholly alien on the young boy's face. And there was something else too, Renamon noted. Something in the way his eyes darted from one person to the next, paying special attention to herself and Guilmon as though he were estimating a threat. Renamon narrowed her eyes and unfolded her arms, feeling her fur beginning to stand up on end slightly. Something was wrong here, she could feel it. It was something more than just the way Takato's eyes looked. For reasons that she couldn't begin to understand, when Renamon looked at Takato she felt as though she were looking into the eyes of a wild digimon.

"Takato?" Guilmon asked cautiously, and from the way that he sounded, not to mention his lack of usual reaction to Takato's presence by pouncing on him Renamon could tell that she wasn't the only one who sensed the oddity. Instead of answering the boy's eyes flickered to behind them and then, with a speed that Renamon hadn't quite thought him capable of suddenly broke into a run, darting into the main bakery section and earning a few startled squawks from customers, not to mention an admonishment from his mother about his _lack of decency_. Takato apparently wasn't listening however as Mei Matsuki's voice became even louder as the slide doors to the bakery opened and shut quickly. All four of them blinking in surprise the two Tamers and two digimon exchanged glances and sighed.

_Looks like it's going to be one of those days…_ grumbled Rika.

* * *

Hair blew into the boy's eyes as he raced down the streets, unmindful of the people that he was accidently bumping into in his bid for freedom, all the while cursing silently at the discomfort that his feet were being made to suffer from as they pounded on the hard ground beneath them, ever so often impacting with an ill placed pebble that dug into his sensitive skin.

_Skin…_

Something was _definitely_ wrong here. Something was out of place, and he knew full well what that was. He wasn't where he remembered being prior to his waking up in a strange room on a raised bed, cluttered as it was with various memorabilia that he recognized all too well, including a statue of a digimon that was _very_ familiar to him. The statue had reason to be familiar to him, as it was a very close approximation of the form that he distinctly remembered taking right before he passed out from exhaustion. It may have been smaller then he was, not to mention having some discrepancies in its appearance, but with the orange, plastic outer coating where there should have been scales, green eyes, and familiar three clawed fingers there was no doubt in his mind as to what it was supposed to represent.

An Agumon. The same creature that _he_ had been before waking up in this…_thing._

He remembered digivolving to that form not too long ago, but the process had exhausted him completely and he had fainted. When he woke up he had found himself in a different place from what he had remembered. Gone were the curved, colorful walls that had been his home for probably longer then he remembered. Gone were the strange people who had poked and prodded at him for so much of his young life from the Fresh to the In-training level. Gone was his very own _body_ as a matter of fact. In fact, what he had found himself in was quite different, resembling the humans that he had grown up with, although it was a little bit shorter and clumsier feeling by comparison. He didn't like the way it made him feel either. The differences were quite astounding (and in some cases _disturbing)_, and he knew right off the bat that there was a massive difference in strength between this body and the one that he had been born in.

_Just what the heck __**happened**__ to me?!_ _Takato_ exclaimed as he continued to race down the streets, cursing as yet another small rock jabbed into his soft, _sensitive_ foot, forcing him into a hobble until he recovered. As he grumbled he looked over his shoulder to see if there were any signs of pursuit. So far there weren't.

_Good,_ was all the digimon wearing Takato Matsuki's body had to think before he bumped into someone. Spinning his head around Agumon's former green, now crimson eyes came face to face with the annoyed looking, violet ones of Rika Nonaka.

"Looking for someone?" Rika asked as she glared at her friend angrily and the boy backed up cautiously.

"Get out of my way," _Takato_ growled at the young girl, causing Rika to raise an eyebrow at him in surprise.

"What's the matter with you?" Rika asked and Takato got into a crouch.

"A lot of things. What's it to you?"

"What do you mean _'what's it to you'?_ Try _'a lot of things'_, because last I checked we were friends. Did your brain just go on a memory lapse with your personality taking off on a cruise or something? Because you're acting weird…"

_Takato_ in the meantime was not in the most charitable of moods right now, such was his confusion and frustration over what he had just recently discovered.

"Just get out of my way lady! I've got places to be!"

"Yeah. You've got that right, and that place is supposed to be where Jeri, Renamon, and I are going. Seeing as how you're deciding to act up I can see that that's going to have to be put on hold while you get back in character…"

"Just get out of my way toots!"

Rika's eyes widened in utter shock, only to be quickly replaced by anger.

_Something's seriously off here,_ Rika managed to think through her cloud of rising fury. _Takato may be a goof sometimes like making stupid comments about my shirt but if I know one thing about him it's that he'd __**never**__ say something like __**that**__ to me! He's got too much propriety in him for that._

"Takato," Rika said in a low voice that was heavy with indignation. "I don't know what's going on with you all of a sudden, but the way I see it you have two choices. You can either come with me willingly or I flatten you here and now and take you with me. _Pick one."_

_"Rika?"_ Came Renamon's voice from the shadows. _"Are you sure about this? There's something odd about him..."_

"Yeah right," laughed _Takato._ "I know about you humans. All talk and no action! You're not going to do a thing to m…!"

POW!

* * *

4


	5. Rude Awakenings

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Out of Body, Out of Mind

Chapter: 5/ Rude Awakenings

It was another day in the top secret government organization known as Hypnos. Another day that had taken on the tediousness of a thousand others before it, or at least it did from Yamaki's perspective. He hated to admit it, but there it was in black and white on the newspaper that he was currently reading; he was made obsolete.

_It's not so much that I'm obsolete,_ thought the blonde haired man who was the leader of Hypnos, the world's foremost authority on anything having to do with a certain place known only as the 'digital world', a strange, alien, otherworld that was made up of an odd mixture of people's dreams and computer data. _It's just that…all of my work just doesn't seem to be as important as it used to. It's as if all I'm doing now is sitting…and waiting for things to happen. And when they do I'm usually helpless to put a stop to things before they get out of control. I've had my one or two shining moments of glory, but those days seem gone now…_

Yamaki sighed.

_Listen to me, thinking like someone who's going through a midlife crisis. That doesn't mean a thing to someone like me. Not anymore anyway. At the very least the world that I've tried so hard to protect is a much more peaceful place…well, outside of the usual digimon attack, but that's usually controlled…__**much**__ more so then it used to be. I guess that's why I'm feeling run down. There's nothing for me to do anymore. In the old days, I had something. Now, I sit and do the usual attempt at blocking a digimon's attempt to access the real world, only to watch it fail and then let the Tamers have at it._

_Oh. That and flick my lighter…when I have it with me that is._

Yamaki scowled beneath his sunglasses as he thought of the lighter that, for much of his adult life had been the object that he used to relieve his excess stress on. It wasn't exactly a very effective method, but he found the clicking sound of metal rather relaxing, not to mention the cool firmness of steel in his hand; hard, unyielding. Only now it was missing.

It was the strangest thing. He normally didn't leave it at the office, but this had been one of those rare, 'once-in-a-blue-moon' type of deals where that was precisely what he had done. When he discovered his mistake he had shrugged it off and decided to wait until the morning to retrieve his property. Only there was a catch…when he had come in, his lighter was gone.

Lost. MIA. Absent Without Leave. By whatever term that you would call it, it was not where he had put it. After a thorough search of his office (something that had left his lover and fellow coworker somewhat bemused when she walked in on him during his valiant search, and even though she never said a word he could see her smirking at him) he had turned up nothing. Time had come and gone, and there was still no sign of the lighter, something that was driving his hands crazy. In a fit of agitation that was _very_ much unlike him, Yamaki had checked the surveillance videos to see what he could uncover about its whereabouts…such as the possibility of the Janitor taking it or something like that. When thinking back on that time Yamaki dourly recalled that Riley had to help 'calm him down'. He didn't quite remember that time all that well, though needless to say whenever anyone talked about it with Riley the words 'homicidal maniac' came to mind far too easily. Riley had bought him a replacement lighter until his old one could be found and that had satisfied him for a time.

That is, until that one too disappeared when he had left it at work again, this time just to see what would happen.

_Surveillance videos weren't that much of a help,_ grumbled Yamaki bitterly.

Outside of those unusual incidents, not much else happened, and while he believed himself capable of tracking down the perpetrator of the rather bizarre theft, Yamaki had found himself with his hands tied (turning out another yarn ball of boredom for the government agent as he lacked something to do now) as it was deemed an inappropriate use of government resources. To make matters worse the higher ups said that they'd keep an eye out for his original lighter, post it in their web forums and blogs, and send out 'Lost' and 'Have you seen me?' signs.

If there was a joke, Yamaki wasn't laughing.

The sound of cicadas buzzing in the summer heat returned Yamaki's thoughts from the aggravating past and to his unchanging present. Yamaki was bored. While once he would have gratefully welcomed an end to the digimon attacks, or at least any violence at all that troubled the world and his fair city Yamaki had become annoyed and irritated with the peace that had fallen. Digimon attacks came and went, but as stated, they were always controlled and the damage was usually quickly replaceable and not in the least bit as expensive as it had been in the past. Fortunate, yes, but as time wore on it also ground down on Yamaki. He needed something to do. Needed to be doing something other than just standing in the background, incapable of doing anything. And if he couldn't find the culprit that had stolen his lighters, he would have to take action sometime soon, or else he'd lose his mind.

The sudden image of him cackling like an evil, demented lunatic came to mind, and while it was eerily similar to how he had been during the Deva invasions, the absurdity of the mental self portrait just did not sit well with him.

_I must be losing it,_ Yamaki thought to himself irritably. _But I __**do**__ need to do something…_

Yamaki's cell phone rang. Taking it out Yamaki looked at it to see who the caller was. Raising an eyebrow at the unexpectedness of this particular caller Yamaki flipped open his cell phone and brought it to his ear.

"Yamaki," he said in his usual, gruff tone. He listened for a moment before nodding in understanding.

"I see. I'll be over right away with a van prepped and ready."

And with that, Yamaki hung up his cell phone, a small smile appearing on his face.

_How nice. I wish and fate delivers…_

Thank the gods.

* * *

Rika hung up her cell phone with a hard click before pocketing it.

"Yamaki's coming," she said to Jeri, who was presently with Mei, Takahiro, and Guilmon, tending to an unconscious Takato who lay unconscious on the couch of the bakery's living quarters. The boy groaned softly as he shifted his head to the side, a rather nasty and noticeable bruise developing on his cheekbone just below his right eye. The two adults looked with concern at the fiery haired girl, as did Jeri and Guilmon.

"That's good. Maybe he can tell us what it was that's going on with Takato. That…was rather weird of him wasn't it?"

"You can say that again," said Rika as she took a breath to calm herself. "It was like I was talking to someone else."

"Perhaps that's because he is," suggested Renamon, causing all eyes to turn towards her in curiosity.

"What do you mean?" Asked Takahiro before glancing over at Rika. "And was it really necessary to knock him out?"

"He wasn't cooperating," replied Rika as she leaned against the wall of the Matsuki's home. "And it looked like that whatever it was he was doing and wherever he was going, he was going to put up a fight over it. I had to do something."

_I could have subdued him without resorting to such extremes,_ thought Renamon, narrowing her eyes slightly at the violet eyed Tamer, but for the moment she said nothing. Rika's present attitude was not precisely her doing. Under normal circumstances she wouldn't have hit Takato, but of late 'normal' just didn't apply to their lives. Not for a good long while now, and for Rika it was starting to show.

_Of course, it's not just stress that's building up with her,_ thought Renamon in sadly before returning her attention to the present, pausing to give a mental sigh as she did so.

"Anyway, regarding what I said about Takato…there is something different about him. Even now I can sense that something about him is not at all like the Takato that we know."

"I can sense it too," supplied Guilmon as he leaned forward and sniffed his partner. "He still smells like Takato, but he's not. He doesn't feel like the Takato I know."

"There are noticeable differences," said Renamon with a nod. "The way he talks, the way he walks…his actions are much more aggressive; almost predatory in fact. Almost in the way that Guilmon walks whenever he senses a wild digimon nearby. And his voice, from what I have observed is also different. Scratchier you could say."

"Not to mention the fact that he called me 'toots'," mooted Rika. "That's the kind of thing I would have expected from Impmon, _not_ Takato. And like I said, he also looked ready to start a scuffle with me, and if there's one thing I know about Takato it's that he wouldn't fight me as a Tamer unless he had a _very_ good reason for it. Not fighting as a Tamer against me…that's practically a big fat _no_ right there. It's just…not how he is. It doesn't have anything to do with my being a girl…correction, it's _part _of the reason, but he's just not the sort of person who would start fights with a person."

"On that we can all agree on," said Takahiro as he ran a hand through his hair in agitation. "Any ideas as to what it could be that's wrong with him?"

"There are some possibilities," said Renamon as she folded her arms across her chest and closed her eyes in deep thought. "We've all experienced it before, and still do from time to time."

Mei narrowed her eyes.

"You don't mean…"

"It is a distinct possibility."

"But…Takato…he…he hasn't…"

"I wouldn't say that he hasn't," said Rika with a slight huff. "It's just been less noticeable. That is, up until now."

Mei looked over at Rika with brown eyes brimming with hope.

"So…I could be getting…my baby back?"

"Um…Mrs. Matsuki…he never really went anywhere…"

"I know," said Mei with a sniff. She dabbed her right eye with one of her hands, overcome by emotion. "It's just…my little boy…he'll finally be with us all the way again…"

_And that might not be what I'd call a 'good thing',_ thought Rika as she turned her head away, looking out towards the hallway that led to the stairway of the bakery section. Following Rika's little 'love tap' (as Takahiro had affectionately named any and all altercations that resulted between Rika and one of her friends) they had hung up an 'out to lunch' sign and closed down the store so as to more adequately deal with the situation. There were the usual groans of disappointment, as the bakery had become quite the favored stopping point ever since the mess with D-Reaper had been settled, but no one voiced any complaints. After all, one of the Tamers had come in with their partner. Complaining of any kind, particularly when heard by the temperamental, red haired girl, was not considered the wisest thing to do in the company of a digimon Tamer.

The sound of Takato stirring once more caught all of their attention. Blinking profusely the brown haired boy rubbed the sensitive spot on his face where Rika had hit him before looking around him. His gaze appeared to be unsteady and almost _glazed_, but that quickly disappeared upon seeing the people and digimon that were gathered around him. Swiftly sitting up _Takato's_ eyes looked from one face to another with an expression of agitation and…panic? No…it was the look of a cornered animal that knew it was caught.

"It's okay Takato," said Guilmon as he raised one claw in a placating manner, hoping to calm his friend or whoever it was that happened to be in him. "We're your friends. We're not going to hurt you."

_Takato,_ in his present state of mind, did not take a second to consider the irony of that statement. All he knew at that moment was that he wanted to escape as quickly as possible, no matter who it was that was gathered around him or what odds were involved. As a result he reacted with lightning quick reflexes ingrained into him by the process of digivolution that had shaped his body.

**"Pepper Breath!"**

Silence followed, broken only by Takato's wheezing at Guilmon as he forced all the air out of his lungs. Looking rather dumbfounded at himself over the lack of flames that the pronunciation of the attack normally delivered Takato tried again.

"Pepper Breath!"

More silence.

"Hahhhhh! Huuhhhh!"

"Phew. You need to brush your teeth Takato," said Guilmon as he waved his claws in front of his nose.

"Why isn't it _working?!_ Growled the brown haired boy as he stamped his feet on the sofa before glowering at the crimson scaled dino in front of him. "And my name is _not_ Takato!"

Guilmon blinked. "Oh. Then what should I call you then? Are you really a Takatomon now?"

"Given that he just tried to use a digimon attack that's probably a much more accurate assessment," said Renamon from her spot by the couch. This earned her a glare from the newly appointed _Takatomon,_ but it left her unfazed. She had seen much more frightening expressions from beings far fiercer than a child with messy hair, and not all of them were exactly human or digimon either.

"Get out of my way," growled _Takato._

"Or you'll what?" Demanded Rika as she placed her hands on her hips and glared at the boy that was her friend. The boy glowered back at her. Like Renamon had been from before with him, Takato didn't seem in the least bit affected by Rika's fierce expression.

_If we never had any evidence that this isn't Takato before, we definitely have it now,_ thought Renamon.

"Rika…" began Jeri cautiously before their argument was interrupted by Mei Matsuki.

"Takato! Is that how you talk to your friends?!"

The older woman, matriarch, and de facto head of the household towered over the smaller boy, hands on her hips and staring down at him. For the first time, _Takato_ faltered as he tried to keep up his aggressive, defensive front towards his _captors._

"But…the red haired one…she hit me…"

"I know her pretty well Takato. If she hit you, she had a very good reason for it. Now, I want you to apologize to these young ladies, the digimon, and to us for making us so upset!"

"But…my name's not Takato…"

"Well whatever your name is they _want_ an apology! _Now!"_

Whatever it was that lay in Mei Matsuki's eyes as she stared at Takato, it definitely did the trick, because soon enough Takato sat back down on the couch, mumbling a barely coherent 'sorry' to everyone gathered around him, looking for all the world like everyone was against him and unable to understand why.

"Hmmph." Mei crossed her arms over her chest. "At least you can make yourself sound sincere when you want to." Ignoring her _son's_ dark look Mei continued. "Now Takato…these two girls and the two digimon are friends of yours. I am your mother, and this…_person_ here is your father. None of us are going to hurt you…well, not any more…are we?"

Mei gave Rika a look, to which the girl responded with a shrug.

"Whatever," Rika said, unmoving from her spot on the wall.

"Good enough for me," said Mei, returning her attention to her son. "Now, _Takato,_ or whatever it is you're called…"

"Agumon," grumbled the boy.

"…Agumon. We have some food available if you're hungry and need to eat something. How about it?"

Taken off guard by the surprising change in the elder woman's tone of voice, the Agumon in Takato's body stared at Mei in surprise, and before he could help himself he began nodding vigorously. In short order, his stomach followed up with its own agreement. Mei looked around at the others, who were staring at her with confused expressions.

"What? If we're going to solve whatever it is that's going on, we might as well do it on full stomachs, right? Do any of you want something to eat too?"

"GUILMON BREAD!" Crowed Guilmon predictably.

"How could we not see that one coming?" Asked Rika with a shake of her head.

* * *

4


	6. Behind the Scenes

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Out of Body, Out of Mind

Chapter: 6/ Behind the Scenes

A tall, lean, clean cut man leaned across a long table, resting his body weight on the knuckles of his hands as he stared out at the group of people assembled before him, a grim, searching look in his eyes.

"Can someone explain to me," he began in a smooth tone, "why Agumon sounds and acts like Takato Matsuki from Digimon Tamers?"

No answer came immediately from the group of men and women gathered on either side of the table before him. There was a hesitant cough of two, but no one as yet desired to answer the question. It was something of an old habit amongst this group. For the man at the head of the table, Bob Taylor, Director of the Special Research Division of Digimon Anime, was not yet done with his speech. Bob leaned backwards, his knuckles cracking with a resounding echo as they were relieved of his weight, before he continued.

"Because I was under the opinion that Agumon was supposed to act like a digimon that was loosely based off of a Yakuza enforcer or something of that nature. He and Marcus were supposed to fight, and Marcus was supposed to become Agumon's partner and 'boss'. Now I saw the episode after it had gone through the dubbing process and I found something most interesting. His vocal patterns, strangely enough, match up to a character that hasn't been seen in over half a decade, and not only that has referred to himself with the name of that character. In addition, he has kicked Marcus in the balls, a fact that also leaves me to wonder how _that_ escaped the censors, but I digress; he kicked Marcus in the balls, and Yoshi involved herself much more directly than she had in the original episode airing _and_ erased Marcus's memory! Now I may not have been there for the actual recording of the episode, but according to the report that was sent to me this morning I've been given to understand that this is most definitely _not_ what happened when the original dubbing was made and it's _certainly_ not called for in the script."

Bob swiveled his gaze around the group of people around him, glowering heavily.

"Someone care to offer me an explanation? Anyone? Jenkins. How about you? Do you have some light that you'd like to shed on this most recent development?"

A dark haired man wearing a simple white, button up t-shirt and black rimmed glasses, tugged at his shirt collar nervously before leaning forward as the center of everyone's attention focused on him.

"Well…I do have a theory…"

"By all means then Jenkins," said Bob as he folded his arms over his chest. "Enlighten us."

"Well," began the man who had been identified as Jenkins, "as you know, the digimon series of season three, most appropriately known as _Digimon Tamers'_ concluded on June eighth of two thousand and two in the United States; March thirty-first of two thousand and two in Japan…"

"We're already aware of that," said Bob dismissively. "You mind telling us something that we don't know?"

"Sorry sir, but I feel that it's important to make sure that everyone is up to speed on events before I get to the actual theory. After all, Sarah," Jenkins nodded to a young, blonde haired woman who sat two seats down across from him, "is rather new to our division."

"Sarah?" Asked Bob in a bored tone. "Do you want to hear this explanation?"

The blonde haired woman wrinkled her nose in annoyance at her superior's tone of voice before responding.

"Yes. Yes I would."

"Very well. Jenkins…if you would be so kind…"

"Yes sir. Now, as you are aware, the Digimon franchise became quite the hit during the late nineties in which it premiered, so much so that it has some of the most extensive fan sites anywhere on the net…in some cases actually better than some of the information that we have received from the Japanese. The fandom eventually grew to epic proportions and was fully collected together under various sites to house works such as fan fiction and fan art, two of which became prominent enough to eclipse all the others due to the extensiveness of their genres and connections to other fandoms of the time…"

"Yes," said Bob, still not moving from where he stood. "The infamous websites known as the 'Fanfic Domain' and the 'Deviations of Art'."

"Yes sir," said Jenkins as he reached up and pushed his glasses onto his face. "And I believe that it is the Fanfic Domain where all of this originated from. It is after all, where all the characters go after their series end. The mind of the fan is a strangely funny, and highly complex organism. If they find a world or a story that catches their attention they invest themselves into it, in some cases this gets to the point where it almost becomes real in their minds. Some characters can actually live on past their shows when this occurs, but normally it is an extremely limited life…almost ghostlike actually…"

"Until the Fanfic Domain was born," said Bob.

"It's where it first began…the _Awakening_ that is. Something about the Fanfic Domain and the gathering of the collected consciousness's of an entire world's worth of fans somehow created an entire new level of reality. A place that was extremely malleable, but only to a point and within the realms of the worlds that the various fandoms are already familiar with, and very rarely do they ever deviate from that. In either case, the new 'pocket universe', if we can use that term without being sued by the 'other' monster series, allowed former characters a place to exist almost completely independent of the fans that created it. 'Almost' being the operative term here as the fans eventually found a way to it and began to interact with each other and the characters that exist within, which also in turn created a link to the 'Deviations of Art' site…but I digress. Characters began to _awaken_ to their existence as fictional characters. The first recorded incident that we have of this comes from Tai Kamaya during the run of season two when his twelve year old self woke up in his older, fifteen year old body. This was, fortunately an isolated incident and one that was easily correctable. We haven't had any further incidents of this since then."

"Usually because the characters normally wake up in the Fanfic Domain," said Bob uncrossing his arms now. "And the matter of character waking tends to be left to the judiciaries of the Fanfic Domain. It's what we all refer to as their 'immigration policy'. I can't imagine that Customs are going to be happy to hear about this…_if_ what you're implying is true."

Jenkins shrugged.

"I don't see why it shouldn't be. The Matsuki, the American dubbed character, has been known as being rather late to just about everything…or maybe that's just an internet meme…"

"In either case, am I given to understand that you think that Takato Matsuki has finally woken to his nature as a fictional character, but for some reason has done so in the place of Data Squad's Agumon?"

"I'd say it's possible. A character's voice actor is what gives a character their first breath of life, and there is much from Data Squad's Agumon that shares some similarities with Agumon, who also shares the same voice actor. Takato modeled his partner to be a better version of Agumon; he sported goggles just like Tai and Davis, and then there's the cardboard box joke…"

"I get the point," said Bob as he massaged his temples. "Ugh. Life became so much more complicated when the characters became real…"

"I hear that it was more complicated for the actual fans themselves," said a man sitting at the far end of the table. _Dylan _Bob thought his name was. "That period of their history that they call the _X-Evolution_ was not pretty, never mind the Flame Wars…"

"We're not here to discuss the history of fan fiction," said Bob, lowering his hand. "Or the finer points of the character's newfound existences in another plain of reality, what I want…_need_ to know is what we're going to do about this. Obviously extracting Takato from Data Squad is going to be the utmost importance so that we can get the episode aired…which fortunately won't be for a while…"

"The longer he's there the more we're going to have to edit the series," pointed out Dylan. "Even our own reality has gotten to be kinda tangible in case you didn't notice."

"Yes. I have. And I've also heard about that incident you had with the Pikachu's. You have my deepest sympathies."

Dylan merely grunted and shifted uneasily in his chair, as though remembering something unpleasant.

"It's not that simple though," said Jenkins. "We can't just go into the show and extract Takato. For one thing no one has ever been able to enter a series except in the case of fan fiction due to its more, to borrow Dylan's terminology, 'tangible'. And another it will expose too many characters to reality too soon. They'll awaken and then…"

"We're well aware of the risks Jenkins," interrupted Bob Taylor. "All of us are. That's why this division was created in the first place. We know that the barrier between the real world and that of the show is a difficult one to pierce, and that's why I'm thinking of taking an alternate route. One in which we can utilize those who are fully able to traverse the barriers that line our worlds."

"You don't mean…"

"Yes. I do. I think it's time we paid the Fanfic Domain a little visit."

"Oh I'll bet they're going to be thrilled to hear about this…"

* * *

Takato stared out the window, watching the world pass him by as Yoshi drove him to…wherever it was that they were going to. He hoped that whatever the place was it would help him figure out just what it was that was going on with him. He had asked some questions about the organization that Yoshi worked for, DATS, and what she told him, or rather what she _would_ tell him was that it sounded a lot like Hypnos back home, leaving him to wonder why he hadn't heard about it before from Yamaki. Surely Yamaki would have told him and the others if there was another agency running around. Especially one with uniforms and vehicles, not to mention digivices (at least, he was sure that the bizarre, rectangular device that Yoshi carried was a digivice) as strange and as colorful as what he was seeing. They didn't look like the kind that belonged to a top secret government organization but more like an official part of law enforcement.

_Of course, ever since D-Reaper there really hasn't been much of a reason to keep the existence of digimon hidden from the public…except in a few cases where I have to take Guilmon to a place that he's never been before. People know that digimon are real so there's less of a __chance that there'll be a panic. Still, this doesn't feel like something that would be Yamaki's style and Yamaki always tells us that everything related to the digital world always passes through Hypnos and its branches. Somehow I get the feeling that even if the guys upstairs set up someone else to look over a branch of Hypnos or something, it wouldn't be like this. It's too out in the open._

An image of a small, mechanical object flashing brightly in front of the street fighter, Marcus Damon made its presence known in the former Gogglehead's mind, and he remembered that with the ability to wipe memories clean from other people's minds, it probably didn't matter whether they were trying to look secretive or flaunting their presence.

_But there is something to that,_ thought Takato with a click in his mind. _That gadget…whatever it is it erases a person's memories. Why would they need to do that? People already know about digimon so I don't think that there's much of a risk of a security breach. Plus Yamaki would have provided us with something like that if he thought that it was important, especially after we got our partners back but so far he's been content to just let things be as they are…like they used to be._

_…Used to be…_

Takato glanced down at his once-fingers-now-claws and his eyes became downcast as the full weight of the situation settled heavily down on him.

_I really hope that Yoshi's friends can help me. I've been a digimon before but not like this. And as much as I find it cool being a digimon, I really prefer just having my human body. I don't want to lose it. I wonder where it is…where it could be. And yeah, how I ended up like this and if I can get back to normal. Wait…what am I thinking about? Of course I can. My friends and I have done the impossible before, so something like this ought to be a piece of cake. Once I tell my side of the story and get in touch with Yamaki I'm sure that we'll figure something out no problem._

A thought occurred to Takato though. What if no one believed him? He had only his story and some names and very little else to back him up. Being that he was in a digimon body didn't help much either…

_Nah. I'm sure that I'm just worrying a little too much. I'll bet my friends already know about the situation. I mean, the last thing I remember was being at Rika's birthday party so anything that happened to me __**really**__ can't be noticed. And if enough time's passed then Yamaki would have been called in to help solve the whole thing. When he hears about my story he'll send someone to get me._

But in spite of Takato's own assurances to himself, that tiny little bit of doubt remained.

A few more minutes of silence passed, during which the large buildings of the city began to thin out until they eventually came to a long stretch of road that led to a single, tall building that reminded Takato of a fortress. He didn't recognize the building though, but there was something about its exterior colors that reminded Takato of the place that he had escaped from when he had woken up. Rather bright and colorful, and something that drew quite a lot of attention rather than look inconspicuous in the manner that Takato was accustomed to seeing with government agencies.

As the car began to slow down Takato couldn't help but wonder at the oddity of that little detail.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" Exclaimed Takato loudly as he was being dragged forward, his claws struggling to break free from the shackles that clamped down over them. 

Lalamon looked at him sadly from where she hovered in the air, hanging onto a leash that led to a neck collar that had been strapped to Takato's neck.

"Sorry," said the plant digimon as she tugged on the leash just enough to get him to stagger forwards. "But until we've confirmed your identity we have to make sure that you aren't going to go anywhere."

"What? Why would I? I came all the way here without this didn't I?"

"It's standard procedure for captured rogue digimon," said Yoshi, glancing at the orange reptile. "My superior wouldn't be all that happy with me for not having you restrained."

"Especially since you escaped the last time that you were…"

"LALAMON!"

"Huh?" Takato blinked his green eyes in surprise. "What was that? What did you say? 'Escaped the last time I was' what?"

"Sorry Yoshi…"

"Are you saying that I was here before? But…wait! This was the place that I escaped from?!"

Yoshi sighed.

"Well…there's no point in hiding it anymore. Yeah, DATS is the place that you broke out of and I've been sent to retrieve you and bring you back."

Takato looked at the girl, completely and totally bewildered at this sudden turn of events. He had put his trust in these two…they had helped him when he was fighting Marcus and they had offered their assistance in helping him figure out what was going on…why he was stuck in a digimon's body. Only instead it looked as though he had been completely blindsided and now it looked like there was no chance that they were going to help him like they said they would.

"But…but…"

Takato's mind raced, and in an instant his mind's eye showed him nightmare images of him being strapped down to a table and being operated on to see what made him tick.

"AHHH!! NO! I DON'T WANT TO BE IN AN ALIEN AUTOPSY VIDEO!"

"Wha…?" Came the startled reply from Yoshi as both she and Lalamon came to a halt.

Digging his feet into the ground beneath him Takato pulled against his collars leash and, using his increased digimon strength managed to throw Lalamon to the ground, eliciting a cry of pain and surprise from the plant digimon. She managed to stubbornly hold onto the leash though, much to Takato's chagrin as he tried to make a dash for it, only to be jerked to a halt by a solid yank that nearly pulled him off his feet.

"Lalamon!" Called out Yoshi. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I'm going to try something to keep him from escaping but I need some help!"

Yoshi nodded and quickly jumped to her partner's aid, grabbing at Takato's leash and pulling on it, giving Lalamon the chance that she needed to carry out her plan.

**"Sing a Song,"** the plant digimon sang, her voice resounding on the air as a soft lullaby, leaving ripples in the air that touched all three of them. Takato gasped, half expecting pain as his combat experience often associated that feeling with the unleashing of a digimon attack, but much to his surprise that wasn't the case here. Instead he felt a strange and comforting sense of exhaustion fall over him, and his eyelids began to droop as though they had sandbags attached to them.

_Sandmon…_thought Takato in sleep induced lunacy. _…special attacks…Mom lullaby…_

The world became dizzying for the former Gogglehead turned dinosaur. He fought to keep them open and in one last ditch effort to shake off the attacks effects on him he forced himself back to his feet and attempted to walk forward.

Takato slumped downwards a second later, his mind immediately falling asleep before he even made contact with the ground.

* * *

6


	7. Thickening Plot

Disclaimer: There are a lot of things that I don't own in this chapter.

Out of Body, Out of Mind

Chapter: 7/ Thickening Plot

"Ugh…"

A blonde haired boy staggered over a sandy dune and looked out over an expansive desert that stretched for miles in all directions. His shoulders sagged as the intense heat from the burning sun above and the scorching ground below hit him and his legs shook from the effort of keeping his body vertical. With a dejected sigh the boy reached behind him, brushing aside his long, red colored coat and brought out a canteen. As he unscrewed the top he furrowed his brow, continuing to survey the landscape. Taking in the stark land that forever remained far more parched than his mouth could ever be a poem came to him

_What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow_

_Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,_

_You cannot say, or guess, for you know only_

_A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,_

_And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,_

_And the dry stone no sound of water._

"T.S. Eliot sure had it right didn't he?" Murmured the boy half to himself as he raised the canteen to his mouth and bent his head backwards, fully expecting a rush of water to settle the dust in his mouth. Unfortunately for him all he was greeted with was a mouthful of the last thing he ever wanted to taste. _Sand._

Spewing the dry, tasteless sand out and spitting angrily the boy glared at the canteen, a not-so-quiet suspicion entering his mind and blazing just as hotly as the sun that hung in the sky above him.

_Of all the things he could have done for retaliation it __**had**__ to be this? And __**here**__ of all places? Good God! So much for 'Wine in the Desert'. Never should have let him see that story…_

"Um…are you okay?" Asked a voice full of concern from behind the boy. Sighing in irritation the boy proceeded to pour out his canteen onto the ever-so sandy ground.

"You know something…you're such a jerk," he told the voice. "I mean, seriously. I go out of my way to give you a good place, a good home, a friendship, heck, even _food_ even though you don't need it and _this _is how you repay me? Okay. So I accidently spilled your hot fudge Sunday but that's still no reason to…" turning around the boy blinked in surprise at his apparent lack of company as he noticed that in spite of what he had heard there was no one around him. Scratching his head the blonde haired boy looked around him in confusion.

"Aru? Aru?"

A metallic, human hand suddenly burst forth from the ground beneath the boy, spraying sand in every direction before latching onto his leg as a forlorn, and slightly muffled voice called out from behind it.

_"NEEE-SAAAN!!!"_

The boy's surprised scream was all the answer the armored hand received for the next five seconds.

* * *

"You're horrible."

"Sorry."

_"Sorry?"_ The boy grunted as he dug into the desert with a shovel and threw sand on an ever growing pile behind him. "Sorry just isn't going to cut it this time, pal. You somehow disposed of my water, _while_ we're in the middle of a burning desert and then you happened to sink because all of this sand couldn't support your colossal weight. While I'm one for ironies and feel well within my rights to say that karma bit you in your steel-plated ass for this one I can easily say that you've messed things up for the both of us. Thanks pal. Thanks a lot. Shall we commence going insane from dehydration and die horrible deaths now?"

Metal flashed in the noonday sun as an armored helm with two green eyes looked out at him.

"Um…technically _you're_ the one who'd end up dying."

"Fine. But at least you'll be stuck here afterwards, rusting in the sun for all eternity. Oh, and I'll haunting you for the duration so that pretty much makes you a _cursed_ set of armor as well."

Metal creaked as the head turned to look down at the ground, a hurt look in its eyes.

"I said I was sorry…"

The boy sighed and he shoved the shovel back downwards, grunting as he began to heave up another helping of sand.

"I know. I heard you the first time, but it still doesn't change anything. You're stuck and I have no water…"

"Can't you just summon more?" Asked the knight-like head turning back up towards the boy. "I mean, you _are_ an author."

The boy stared at the helm with a befuddled look on his face for a moment before he slung the shovel over his shoulder and burst into a fit of inappropriate laughter rather reminiscent of a cliché super-villain, only with a lighter, more sarcastic edge to it.

"Oh come on Knightmon," said the boy to his comrade as he wiped at his eyes, trying desperately to hold back the laughter. "Where would the fun be in that? I mean…_summon water?_ Seriously. If I summoned water we wouldn't have come up with all that good banter. We at least need to have some good memories from our experiences."

The helmet that the boy had addressed as _Knightmon_ groaned and shifted slightly in the sand.

"You have really weird ideas for what counts as 'fun' Nee-san."

"Oh knock it off," replied Nee-san. "At least allow me this moment to pretend that I'm actually a part of a story. It helps the mood you know and sets the atmosphere. It's why we trekked all the way out here."

"I thought it was because you had that stupid bet with Arc22 where you said you could go a week without using your author abilities."

"Well…that too, but my point stands. At any rate I have what it takes to be a regular character as well as an author, and nothing that Arc22 says is going to stop me."

"Arc22 doesn't think that you'll last twenty four hours, let alone a week without using your author abilities."

Nee-san placed his hands on his hips and gave his partner a sardonic look.

"And you're actually thinking he's right? And how can we create stories without using our author abilities anyway? Answer me that!"

Knightmon sighed.

"I'm not saying anything for or against your bet with Arc22, Nee-san. Frankly though I think the whole thing is rather immature and stupid…"

"With that attitude you can just stay there," said Nee-san in a deadpan tone.

"Oh, come on!" Exclaimed Knightmon. "You can't just leave me here! It gets cold out here at night and super-hot during the day! My armor will crack and I'll…"

"Don't be such a baby," laughed Nee-san as he raised one arm. "You know I'm just joking. Can you move your arms?"

Knightmon huffed irritably. "A little bit. Why? What's your plan?"

Digging through his coat pocket the boy brought out a deck of digimon cards and began sorting through them.

"Still trying to work out the details. I just wanted to know what your degree of mobility was before I tried anything. Now lessee…" Nee-san glanced at his forearm. "Gadget activate."

A rectangular, mechanical object materialized on the boy's forearm, stretching from his wrist all the way to his elbow. Nee-san nodded in satisfaction while Knightmon just stared at him incredulously.

_"Gadget?"_ Knightmon scoffed in disbelief. "Is that what you're calling your digivice now?"

Nee-san shrugged.

"It was either that or the _Device._ I just thought that Gadget had a nice _round_ sound to it that I liked. Besides; Device was already taken." Nee-san fanned through his cards once more and pulled out one, smirking slightly as he prepared to slash it.

Before he could do anything a loud crack of thunder resounded upon the air. Spinning Nee-san traced the sky, looking for the source of the noise.

_Okay, I'm reasonably sure that I didn't plan for that to happen. At least not until I was actually ready and had the characters all picked out. So who…?_

Nee-san saw a number of figures come tumbling straight out of the sky. Gravity, the ever present mistress that it was saw to it that their direction took them on a beeline course for the ground at breakneck speed with intention to splatter.

"Those aren't the characters who are supposed to be here," Nee-san murmured to himself. "I haven't even gotten back any responses from anyone so who could…"

"Um…they're falling."

Nee-san snapped out of his reverie and dashed forward.

"Ah! Right! Let's go make like heroes, Knightmon!"

"NEE-SAN! I'M STILL STUCK!"

"Oops," replied the boy sheepishly as the falling figures plowed into a massive sand dune, kicking up a cloud of dust from the force of their impact.

* * *

Sampson stood in front of the viewing window, his shade covered eyes focused on the orange colored dinosaur who was strapped down securely. Next to him, Yoshino and Lalamon stood, quietly awaiting their superior's response to their report.

"So…that's his story?"

"That's it sir," said Yoshino. "I have to admit that it's more than a little bit strange to and even I have trouble believing it, but don't you think that there should at least be some kind of investigation before we send Raptor-1 back to the digital world."

"Do you have any reason to believe that its story can be authenticated?"

"Well…not particularly. But Raptor-1 was acting rather peculiar even for a Renegade. He claimed to be a human child by the name of Takato Matsuki, and he seemed pretty convinced about it. Even mentioned a number of people and places that he couldn't possibly have known about if he actually was the digimon that we've had contained here."

"Hmmm…" Sampson stroked the edge of his chin. On his shoulder, the small, ferret-like creature looked up at him.

"Could there be a chance that a human child somehow switched minds with Raptor-1?"

"Impossible to say at this moment, but based on Yoshino's testimony it's a possibility that we're going to have to consider. Tell Miki and Megumi to run a system-wide diagnostic on all internal sensors and log any and all abnormal readings that they find. Also have them look into any recent police reports about children acting strange around the area of…Shinjuku was it?"

"Yes sir. Do you want me to patrol around there as well?"

"Negative. Stay here for the time being and guard Raptor-1. We may have to interrogate him for more information regarding his 'human' identity. I'm also interested in learning more about this 'Hypnos' agency that he told you about."

"Do you think that there could be an additional agency?"

Sampson did not answer the girl, instead merely choosing to observe their captive digimon a few moments longer before turning and walking off at a brisk pace towards the observation room's exit.

"Let me know when Raptor-1 awakens."

"Uh…yes sir."

Sampson closed the door behind him with a dull click, leaving Yoshi and Lalamon to stare at it for a few moments with curious expressions on their faces.

"Do you think something's wrong?" Asked Lalamon in her sing-song voice. Yoshi pressed her thumb and forefinger against her chin in imitation of their superior and frowned.

"I don't know Lalamon," answered Yoshi with a frown. "But one thing's for sure, whatever it is that's going on we're likely to get our answers from our friend here once he wakes up."

Turning back towards the observation window Yoshi grimaced as she heard a loud snore being emitted by the large, orange dinosaur as he continued to sleep the day away.

"Sheesh. He sure is a heavy sleeper, isn't he?"

"I guess that he really needs it after the day that he's been through."

"Hmmph. It wouldn't be that way if he didn't up and decide to escape like that."

"Yoshi. I'm sure he was just frightened by his surroundings. How would you react if you suddenly woke up in a strange place like this?"

"I guess, but," Yoshi's frown softened as she looked at the sleeping dinosaur, "I don't remember you acting that way when you first came to the real world."

"I'm used to my digimon form. If what he said is true, waking up in a digimon form must have been quite a surprising experience."

"I suppose you're right," said Yoshi, waving one hand in the air in a dismissive fashion. "But that's assuming that he actually is a human trapped in a digimon's body. Still, I guess it's best to give him the benefit of the doubt for the time being. It's the commander's call. He wants Raptor-1 under observation so that's what we're going to do. I wonder how long it will be before we get the scientists here to look him over."

The pair was quiet for a few moments before Lalamon spoke up again.

"You know…the commander didn't say anything about the boy that Raptor-1 got into a fight with."

"Hmmm… Maybe the commander has a lot on his mind right now. Besides, I erased his memory after all. I doubt that he'll be a problem after this."

* * *

Marcus grunted as he was thrown to the ground and a pair of rough hands forcibly began to place handcuffs around his wrists.

"Hey! Watch the material!" He shouted as he strained against the strength of his assailants. "Come on! What's this all about?! I didn't even do anything! You can't just go arresting people in the middle of the street for no reason!"

"That's where you're wrong, kid," said the police officer who was trying to hold Marcus down while his partner cuffed him. "We _do_ have good reason to arrest you. We have several eyewitness accounts of you assaulting people."

"Oh. _Those _guys?" Laughed Marcus as he heaved his body upwards only to be thrown back down against the pavement. "Listen. Those guys were on my turf! You can't blame a guy for defending his territory, and besides they started it. What was I supposed to do? Run away?"

"Defending yourself isn't a crime, but if you actually had something to worry about in your defense you wouldn't have tried to escape from us anyway. You know what we call that, right? Resisting arrest. Last I checked that's a criminal offense."

"Yeah? Well offense _this!"_ With a sudden surge of strength Marcus strained his wrists against the handcuffs. An orange aura flared around his fists and with a quick snap of his wrists the chain connecting the handcuffs flew off, throwing them and one of the officers clear from his body. The other policeman, stunned by this sudden display of power staggered to his feet and backed off. With a harsh gasp of air Marcus got to his feet and glowered at the officer.

"Is that all you've got? C'mon! I'm barely working up a sweat he…wha…?"

Marcus blinked as he noticed that his hand had what appeared to be an orange flame surrounding it. A flame that, strangely enough, did not burn at all.

_What's going on here?_

**"Pointer Arrow!"**

Snapping his eyes back up, Marcus barely had enough time to register that the police officer that he had been facing down with earlier was now charging towards him with his knight stick raised, clearly intending to knock him out. Before the officer could even bring his weapon onto the desired skull, a green colored energy arrow struck the weapon, sheering it in half and sending its end toppling uselessly to the ground. Blinking in surprise both males turned to look towards the alleyway that the blast had come from. A single, solitary foot of green scales and three claws stepped out of the shadows before being joined by another. Continuing to move forward the shadows parted to reveal a turtle-shelled creature with a strange, yellow ball stuck in a hole in his chest and what appeared to be a military helmet strapped around its head, obscuring its vision. For some reason though when Marcus saw the creature he had the distinct feeling that the obstruction did not hinder it in the least.

At the same time, a faint feeling of déjà vu tickled his mind, and the orange flame around his fist pulsed in time with it.

"My apologies officer," said a clear, distinct, elderly voice from the alley. "But I have a need for this boy here, and you happen to be in the way. Kamemon?"

A smile began to grow across the turtle creature's face and he took another step forwards. As though the movement was a trigger the police officer choked and took another involuntary step backwards, his instincts clearly screaming at him to flee. There was just something about it that called to him visions of a nightmare that he had seen back from when he was but a young child, and although he hadn't thought about it in years, the dream had been traumatic enough for him where every so often it clung to him whenever he happened to see so much as a sign of a turtle. Cold sweat dripped down the officer's face and he jerked his vision over to his fallen partner, who was just now starting to come to with a groan.

"I…I…"

The shock of seeing such a strangely realistic creature that looked so much like his nightmares of old proved to be far too much for him. The officer's eyes rolled up into his head and he promptly collapsed to the curb, twitching slightly.

"I see that the police force has been lowering the bar lately," commented the elderly voice from the shadows. Turning his gaze away from the turtle creature Marcus Daemon glared at the alley and raised his fists, this time unmindful of the burning flame that glowed around them.

"Hey! Who are you? Show yourself?!"

"My, my. Quite the impatient tone to be taking with someone who just saved you from being placed in prison…"

"I don't _need_ help mister, now step out of there right now or I'll…"

"No need to threaten," said the voice as its owner took a step forward. Marcus frowned upon seeing the man. At first glance he didn't look all that impressive. A long, gray mustache, a balding head, and a slightly stooped physique that was obviously past its prime, not to mention the rather ridiculous looking Hawaiian T-Shirt that he wore. He hardly looked like the sort of person who would command the bizarre creature that he was standing next to. Yet, there he was, plain as day.

"So impatient," continued the man calmly. "And always ready to settle things with your fists. But then, that's what I would expect from the son of…Spencer Daemon."

The world suddenly seemed to stop for the street fighter named Marcus and the flame around his hands was abruptly snuffed out.

* * *

6


End file.
